>> not if sheila davalloo had her way. >> but this is a case where i am being accused of killing somebody. >> as sheila davalloo presented the case for her own defense, she boiled it down to this. the state's case is flimsy. very good morning to you. coming up on "early today," baltimore celebrates a super bowl victory complete with a power outage. a powerful halftime show, and some super-sized ads and one heck of a game, all straight ahead. plus, president obama takes his gun control message as mountain michael bloomberg sticks to the nra with a powerful ad. plus, the 5-year-old hostage held hostage in alabama heads into the fifth day. leon panetta talks about life and death decisions and says rumor of a death are just

life and death decisions and says rumor of a death are just that. captions paid for by nbc-universal television very good monday morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. we begin with a developing tragedy in southern california. a bus carrying a tour group from tijuana collided with mountains killing eight and injurings more. authorities say the driver reported brake problems as the bus came down the mountain. it rear ended a car before flipping and hitting a pickup truck that was hauling a trailer. passengers described the scene. >> starts to move so fast, and the people start screaming. >> two or three minutes swerving in and out? >> yeah. >> everybody was scared. everybody was screaming. >> the bus was reportedly returning from a ski outing to big bear. well, today president obama will travel to minneapolis to push his proposal for broader gun control measures in the wake

of the deadly school shooting in newtown, connecticut. tracie potts is live in washington with more on that. and a new photo of the president that's been raising some eyebrows? >> reporter: absolutely. he's traveling to minnesota because that's a state that's made a big push to curb gun violence, especially in minneapolis. that's the setting, the backdrop behind president obama pushing federal proposals. take a look at this picture. it is the president, gun in hand, escondiskeet shooting at david. over the weekend, the white house photo. critics are saying it's an obvious effort, as they put it, to pander to conservatives, making the point that the president supports the second amendment while pushing for gun-control one measure that doe gaining some momentum on capitol hill are universal background checks. it was yesterday, you may have seen it during the super bowl game, when the mayors for illegal guns, merriayor bloombe

group, ran this after columbine supporting background checks now against it. the ceo of the nra says there's no discrepancy here. they did not support universal background checks back then or now. they were only talking about gun shows. all of this as the debate continues, and we wait, veronica, to see if anything will materialize on capitol hill, legislation that looks like it could actually get passed. >> tracie potts in washington. thank you. a 25-year-old man is being held today on charges of killing a former navy s.e.a.l. eddie ray roth is facing capital murder charges in killing chris kyle, a star of "stars earn stripes." kyle and a friend were gunned down at a north texas shooting range. in an interviewer with the "today" show last year, kyle said he had no regrets about his actions in combat. >> every person i killed, i have

a clear conscience of because they were actively trying to harm americans, allies, or civilians. >> ruth was a military veteran, but his motives are still unclear. he's being held on $3 million bond. we are entering the seventh day of the hostage standoff in alabama. a 5-year-old boy is still being held in an underground bunker by jim lee dykes. police say dykes shot and killed a school bus driver last tuesday and abductsed the child. police continue to negotiate with dykes who has received medicine for the boy and is believed to be making the boy as comfortable as possible. the funeral for the bus driver was held sunday. as hundreds turned out to pay tribute to charles poland who was hailed as a hero for protecting the other children on the school bus before he was shot. defense secretary leon panetta is defending the government's controversial drone program and reveals that as a catholic he grapples with making life and death decisions. secretary panetta tells abc's "meet the press" that decisions to target suspected terrorists with drone strikes don't come lightly and that u.s. officials

make sure they are focused on somebody who is a direct threat to the united states while trying to limit collateral damage. you can watch chuck todd's full interview with the defense secretary on line. that's at meetthepressnbc.com. this morning the baltimore ravens are the super bowl champions after defeating the san francisco 49ers 34-31 in a game that went down to the wire but not without a hitch. nbc's jay gray reports on all the festivities from the big easy. >> reporter: after a week of preparations and parties -- ♪ [ cheers ] >> reporter: the action moved inside. ♪ >> reporter: a poignant start. ♪ spacious skies >> reporter: students from sandy hook elementary singing "america the beautiful," and then -- ♪ o say >> reporter: a powerful denition of the national anthem -- rendition of the national anthem

by alicia keys followed by the game. baltimore took a commanding lead early, and at halftime -- ♪ >> reporter: beyonce commanded the stage. ♪ all the single ladies >> reporter: joined in a surprise reunion by destiny's child. the second half began with an electric connekickoff return by jacoby jones. then the electricity went out. a loss of power left half the stadium in the dark and caused a 34-minute delay in the game. >> let's go. >> reporter: when the game ended, it was the niners who had all the energy, mounting a huge comeback. in the end, the baltimore ravens hold on for an exciting win. the end of the super bowl, but the party continues in new orleans. mardi gras resumes. jay gray, nbc news, new orleans. the family of muhammad ali is trying to knock out rumors that the boxing legend is on his deathbed. they released photos of the 71-year-old at his arizona home watching the super bowl in

ravens' gear. the rumors were started by "the sun," quoting ali's brother as saying "the greatest of all time" was near death. for monday's weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather center forecast did. your team win? >> i was rooting for the 49ers. i had no -- >> i didn't either. >> with the power outage, i had to stay up even later to see how that was going to end. >> you had to? >> yes. there will be grumpy people at work. the game ended late for people on the east coast. let's look at the forecast and get you out the door on this monday. we're going to continue with the weather pattern of beautiful weather in the west, beautiful weather in the deep south, and then we'll still have cold blasts coming down all the way from the north. and we're going to have snow showers on and off, light snow coming down near chicago. that's going to head for west virginia as we go throughout the afternoon. that snow now, you see it -- the white is where it's snowing, the blue is where it's more intense snow bands, almost over the top

of downtown chicago. if you look out the window near chicago and rockford, you're probably seeing it coming down. it's cold enough that it's going to be a fluffy, quick accumulation. a couple inches, nothing bad. maybe one or two inches out there from areas from green bay southwards to ft. wayne. eventually during the day, this is all going to push into areas of northern ohio. so cleveland to pittsburgh for your evening rush home. you could have to deal with snow. later on tonight, the mountains of west virginia and central p.a. it's also cold back behind this clipper. windchills still well below zero much of minnesota. the rest of the forecast looks nice for your monday from the southeast to texas and everywhere else. enjoy it. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. so in areas like cincinnati, you'll see light snow late in the day today. more or less toward this evening hours if you're in pennsylvania or west virginia. again, this is one of the clipper lows, usually the snow is light and fluffy. it only produces at much an inch or two. maybe friday east coast could have a chance of a big storm.

i'll have more details. >> i thought you were going to say sunshine, then you say storm. thanks. >> we haven't had any big ones for a long time. >> thanks. fidel castro's first public appearance in years. bill clinton says hello to a friend. and madame tussauds image. and more on the super bowl game. back in twamts.

welcome back. here are some stories making news this morning. officials in turkey are questioning 15 people in a death of a new york city mother whose body was found saturday in istanbul. she'd been vacationing in turkey. police say she was killed by an injury to the head. in cuba, the public people got a closeup look at retired leader fidel castro. their first since 2010 as castry voted at a -- castro voted at a polling place in havana. john kerry had a busy weekend talking to the leaders

of israel, turkey, and japan. the funeral of ed koch will be held today. he died at age 88. a star in the all-american girls professional baseball league in the 1940s has died at the age of 88. she was an inspiration for the movie "a league of their own," and model played by the character played by geena davis. the biggest tv spectacle of the year had all the drama of a great halftime show, brother versus brother, and super ads. did the 34-minute power outage hurt in the ratings? the audience numbers will be out later. a story worth keeping an eye on. one company that took advantage of the power outage was nabisco. their oreo cookie tweeam tweete "power out? no problem, you can still dunk in the dark." it received almost 14,000 re-tweets, almost 5,000 favorites. just in time for lent,

mcdonald's will be offering its first new happy meal entree in ten years -- fish mcbites. the seven-piece fish made from fried alaskan cod will be available this week and right up until easter. watch for news today from england's finance minister who will warn british bank that don't guard against risky investments may risk being dismant dismantled. the federal government wants to make wi-fi yorks available across the nation so users can surf the net without paying a monthly phone bill. google and microsoft support the plan, but cell phone companies are firmly against it since wireless is a $178 billion-a-year industry. to leave with news that will make investors feel good, stocks are up almost 7% this year. and a whopping 114% since the bear market low in march, 2009, as the dow's 14,000 peak -- will the bulls keep running? baltimore explodes in celebration as the final seconds

tick off the clock. ravens' fans spilled into the streets from bars and restaurants creating this massive street party you're looking at. we'll have game highlights next.

welcome back. now to some stories that caught our eye this morning. we begin in southern california where 300 pounds of dynamite leveled a massive power plant.

the implosion completely demolished the san diego facility in a matter of seconds to make room for a 24-acre public park and other projects. also in california, an out-of-control suv crashed into an apartment building. four people inside the vehicle were injured as it ripped through a first floor apartment, destroying everything in its path. no one inside was harmed. and now to an oregon bakery that refuses to sell wedding cakes to same-sex couples. >> i believe that marriage is a religious institution ordained by god. the book of genesis talks about that. for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleve to his wife. >> the owner says he's not homophobic but stands by his religion. the oregon department of justice is investigating. finally in missouri, a kansas city church is showing a sign of support for gay boy scouts. the church posted a gay pride banner, welcoming all members of the boy scouts of america. the youths organization is set to discuss lifting the ban on gays and lesbians this week. turning to sports, super

bowl xlvii looked like a blowout. but turned out to be a thriller. in the first quarter, ravens' quarterback joe flacco connected with antoine bolden for touchdown pass and early lead. in the second, baltimore scored two more touchdowns to make it look like a blowout. they went to halftime with the 21-3 lead. in the third, the ravens' jacoby jones had a record with a 109-yard kickoff return. the longest in super bowl history. and that made it 28-6, ravens over the 49ers. then the power goes out in the superdome. it took 34 minutes before the lights were back on and play was restarted. then momentum shifted quickly as san francisco scored two touchdowns in less than 2 1/2 minutes. in the fourth quarter, niners' quarterback colin kaepernick rolled left and kept going for a 15-yard run for a touchdown. san francisco had a last shot at the end zone, but there was contact between wide receiver michael crabtree and the ravens'

jimmy smith. no penalty flag was thrown. baltimore gave up a two-point safety, and the game ended on a ravens kickoff and 49ers' return as time ran out. the final score, ravens 34, 49ers 31. the two head coaches, brothers jim and john harbaugh met in the middle of the field as john told jim he loved him and jim completed john on the win. the ravens celebrated including ray lewis, retiring as a super bowl champ. congrats. and the wax figure of lance armstrong will remain in madam tussauds's. since his confession to doping they reworded the caption to say "disqualified seventime winner of the tour de france." 0time wi of the tour de france." -time wir of the tour de france." time win of the tour de france." time win of the tour de france." -time wi of the tour de france." the next breezy point, the polar bear plunge for a purpose. and which ad got more bang for their $4 million bucks for the super bowl?

does your favorite rate?

welcome back to "early today." your travel trouble spot from areas of minnesota where it showed last night. southern wisconsin, madison, milwaukee, coating of snow on the sidewalk and roads. now it's snowing in chicago. all heading for northern indiana, southern michigan, and eventually the northern half of ohio during the day today. areas like cleveland and columbus, even ft. wayne, indiana, all expected to pick up at least one or two inches of snow. you're okay in the northeast. just showers in texas.

and you know, these weak stor , storms,veronica, enough to make it troublesome as you head out the door. >> not good news. thanks. 55 commercials from 40 advertisers aired during the super bowl, but only one could be crowned king. the clydesdale is back in anheuser-busch's story about the bond between a trainer and his horse. it topped "usa today's" super bowl ad meter, just narrowly beating tide's laundry detergent spot about a miracle salsa stain appeared on a san francisco fan's jersey only to be washed out by his wife who is a ravens' fan. lighthearted commercials beat out the more raunchy ones with the top five being rounded out by chrysler's farmers ad, doritos dress-up dad, and jeep's salute to the soldiers. godaddy.com's bar rafeali's smooch ad said it was an utter turnoff. thanks to the super bowl, the box office will be probably

the slowest time of the year. the zombie flick got $20 million followed by "hansel and gretel" which saw a whopping 53% last week. and beyonce announced she will go off on a word tour kicking off in april and ending at the brooklyn barclay center in august. she does look great. this comes to us from wnbc 4 new york in new york city, where a ne at nearby breezy point, dozens braved the chilly water to help victims from hurricane sandy. the courageous souls took part as part of the rockaway plunge. it raises money for cystic fibros fibrosis. in addition, this year they will donate a portion of the money to hurricane sandy victims. i'm veronica de la cruz, this is your first stop of the day on your nbc station.

bundle up. a cold start to the morning. the big story, more snow in our future. what you need to prepare for coming up in a minute. good morning. i'm aaron gilchrist. i'm eun yang. welcome to news 44 today for this monday, february 4, 2014. for the second time in a dozen years, the baltimore ravens are super bowl champions. the ravens beat the san francisco 49ers, 34-31 to win

super bowl xlvii in new orleans. baltimore jumped out to a 26 -- joe flacco was named super bowl mvp. he threw three touchdown passes in the win. of course, that led to this. while you were sleeping, the ravens fans were partying into the night. this was federal hill in baltimore. we've been keeping an eye on the celebrations. despite the mayhem, we haven't heard of arrests. just a lot excited fans. >> i've been 12 years for this. this is the best feeling i've had in my life. we're the team of des ni. >> it's more than a football game. it's about baltimore, the city, crazy fans. the city. city coming to unite. ravens fans lucky or rich enough to